The Descendants: More Than Meets the Eye
by Optim
Summary: In the days of Korra's children, a boy named Toru, and three other descendants of the Avatars are brought to the spirit world to save it from the spirit, Koh, and his enhanced powers. If Koh succeeds and takes over the Spirit world, every spirit will become evil, and nothing will stop him from coming for Korra, and destroying our world. Except the Descendants. I do not own Avatar.
1. Chapter One: The Scar

**DISCLAIMER: Sadly, I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender. I only own my OC's**

**Chapter One: The Scar**

"WHOOOOOHOOOO!" Akila shouted as she jumped. Akila is Avatar Korra's daughter. She has an older brother named Kobee, a waterbender, and a younger sister named Aya, a nonbender.

I grinned as I watched Akila jump off the steep, gray, jagged fifty-foot cliff, and watched her fall. I could see the wind whipping her light brown hair as she fell, with a look of pure joy on her face. Definitely different from how it usually curls around and just touches the tips of her soft, brown eyes, which settle against her beautiful cream colored skin. I shook the daydream off, and concentrated back onto the present.

As Akila neared the ground, she did a flip, and bright white-hot flames shot out of her hands, and she flew straight up. Did I mention she could firebend?

This flying technique was a move she had just mastered, and couldn't get enough of. She sent out even more flames from her hands, and she did a perfect flip, and landed, back facing the mountain wall. I turned to look at her so my back was to the edge.

"That was amazing!" she practically shouted. Her hair that was effortlessly wind-blown settled to the sides of her flushed cheeks, and I stifled a gasp.

"Yes!" I exclaimed. "I haven't seen you do so well before! Now it's my tur-" I turned and was prepared to jump off, scare Akila, and softly land on the small crevice I had created below, but I was interrupted.

"No!" Akila screamed. I turned and looked down. The forest at the bottom of the cliff was engulfed in the white, raging flames that only Akila could firebend.

…

Five minutes later, we were back in Republic City. Akila jumped out of my satomobile before I'd even stopped, and grabbed Kobee right out of his noodles, struggling to pull him. Kobee's no tiny wimp. He brushed her off, and narrowed his eyes as he removed the water from his shirt by waterbending. He then splashed it all over Akila. In a moment of fright, she didn't even wince, or set his hair on fire like usual.

"What do you want, Akila?" he said, annoyed.

I stood next to Akila. "We may or may not have started a major forest fire that could spread and burn down the whole city," She said, with a nervous smile.

"WHAT?" he screamed. "I can't even begin to-"

"Save city now, kill us later," Akila reminded him. Kobee sighed angrily, and ran out to get in the satomobile. I drove as fast as I could, but by the time we got there, the whole forest was in flames, and Akila covered her mouth in shock.

"I... Did this?" she asked, knowing the terrible, inevitable answer awaiting her.

Kobee ran out as quickly as he could. he closed his eyes, and started doing extreme bending. He made strange moves, that resembled water. His long arms moved in curves, unlike the flat, solid moves that I, an earthbender had learned. The already slightly cloudy sky turned gray, and started to rain. Kobee then moved his hand toward the nearest river, and shifted his legs to be in a crouching stance. He moved his arm carefully over his head, and towards the fire. Slowly, the water lifted up, over him, and splashed all over the flames. The sizzled out.

I sighed in relief, but Kobee then sent the rain all towards the river, and soon the dry river was flowing with new vigor. I smiled a bit, then looked back at the forest. It was dark black, nothing alive. I had never felt such a sense of dread before. Akila and I stood shocked, but then Tobee collapsed. I bent a slab of rock to carefully carry him to the satomobile.

I looked back once more at the dead, bleak, black forest. So empty of hope, full of pain. This was a scar. A scar on the world, given by a child of the Avatar, and stopped by another. Akila is a powerful bender. She has just learned what this power can do when not used carefully. So had I.


	2. Chapter Two: Actions and Consequences

**DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own The Legend of Korra, or Avatar: The Last Airbender. I only own my OC's**

Chapter Two:

We drove the satomobile back in silence. Nothing could explain the sadness I felt, just watching the blaze. Not to mention how Akila felt. She had caused this destruction, and as if watching the beautiful lives of nature dying wasn't enough, she was going to be in heaps of trouble.

Since we had both turned fifteen in the past year, we were eligible to be convicted in court, by the Council of Republic City. And then we'd have to deal with Akila's mother. And she's not the most peaceful, spirit lady, she's the butt kicking Avatar!

We arrived back at Akila's home, and walked in, carrying Kobee.

"It'll be fine," I tried to reassure her. The Avatar was a great fighter, but when it came to trying to control her temper towards her children... Let's just say her husband is the one who takes care of these problems. But right now, he's gone to train Republic City's Elite Task Force.

"I know," replied Akila, "and we've been getting really close lately... I just don't want to disappoint her, and shame our whole family. Kobee and Aya are great kids, Aya is extremely smart, who cares if she can't bend, and Kobee is a waterbender, and he can fight so well. I make tons of mistakes, embarrass myself, and now I nearly destroyed all of the city from that fire."

I sighed. I couldn't think of anything to say to that, except that it was true.

We heard someone walking down the same hallway that we were in. The figure came up to the light of the window, and we sighed. It was Akila's mother. She looked at our nervous, worried faces, then down at Kobee. Her eyes widened, and she ran over.

She carried Kobee into one of their many guest rooms, and laid him down, then she ran out of the room, and arrived five seconds later with water.

Immediately she bent the water onto Kobee's forehead, and the Avatar began to heal him, and the water changed to a bright color. Akila's eyes filled with tears again, as she realized her brother had been hurt, because of her, and she walked over to stand next to Kobee's bed, so she was next to her mother.

Without looking up, Korra(As she refuses to go by a last name) said, "What happened, Akila?"

I could tell she was trying to hold herself back from screaming and letting out a lecture containing some dirty language.

"I... I did exactly what you told me not to do. You told me not to use my fire-propelling thingy without a master supervising, especially because I haven't fully learned it yet. I went into the northern mountains, and tried to do it correctly. But when I was turning to move up, I sent out too much fire, and some of it hit the tree. You can figure out the rest, considering it's a waterbender that is hurt and exhausted right now," she muttered in one breath, and looked down at her brother, waiting for the lecture. "I don't know what I was thinking, Mom."

Korra didn't speak for some time. She took a deep breath, and spoke.

"Akila, what you did, and what you have caused was foolish, and reckless of you. I've warned you time and time again not to use your bending for meaningless purposes, and to be careful. So, I'm going to take away your tickets to the Pro-Bending Champoinships," the Avatar took a breath, and Akila's eyes nearly popped out of her sockets. "I see a lot of myself in you, Akila, and I know firsthand the temptations that your abilities give you. But you must learn to control your impulses! This really is the bottom line, and if you are tried in court, or not, I hope that you come out of this as a more mature, smarter young woman. The same goes for you, Toru. I know you sometimes try to talk common sense, but you are at just as much fault as Akila right now."

Akila and I both nodded our heads, solemnly.

"First, we need to report to this to head councilwoman Isra. She has to take this to a vote. And she'll be on our side, since her daughter is Aya's friend," she stated.

"Next, I'll get Tenzin to be the lawyer on our case, if the council votes for a trial. He's seventy three now, but he's our best shot. He's... Calmer now," she said, and we all laughed as we remembered. At his last birthday, Akila had convinced Aya(Tenzin favors Aya the most out of the three kids) into making Tenzin think she had dropped out of school, and was living on the streets now. He fell for it so badly. I didn't know that it was possible for a person's face to change so many different colors.

"And Akila, everybody makes mistakes. They can't be helped, but you must learn from them," Korra stated, and went back to consentrating on Kobee.

We let him rest, and we walked out of the room.

Outside, Akila paced back and forth, waiting for Kobee to wake up. I sat by her, to try and make her feel strong, and looked in at Korra inside the room. What Korra had said had made Akila feel better, but when your family is in hurt, there is no possible way to stop thinking about them.

I gave Akila a friendly hug before driving home to my mother. It was late, and she needed to know I was safe. Being a single mother makes her worry, but my new baby brother or sister is due any day now, and I need to be there for her.

**DUN DUN DUNNNNNN! **


	3. Chapter Three: Abilities

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Avatar: The Last Airbender, or The Legend of Korra. Otherwise, there would be a character in the series named Sokin. ;)**

Chapter Three:

The next day, my mother had found out about the whole fire incident... She's making me stay home. She says she's getting groceries, but at the state of her pregnancy right now, I'm pretty sure she's just meeting with Korra to discuss punishments. Way to ruin the day, Mom.

So, I stayed around the house alone in the morning. I was alone because of my father's death, five months ago. Otherwise, I'd be working with my dad, a carpenter. But since he died, I've been working five days a week doing his job, to make money for the family. We could have always asked for help from the Avatar's family; Mako is really kind, but I think my mother is too embarrassed. I don't know why, though. Many people struggle to provide for themselves. Why, Mako and his brother, Councilman Bolin(He's also my earthbending master) lived on the streets themselves, when they were younger.

But today was one of my two non-working days, so I stayed home. I pretty much sat on the couch studying for the whole day, even when my mom came home. In the evening, I went to my earthbending practice. You may be still wondering why councilman Bolin somehow is my earthbending master. I guess I owe you an explanation.

So, four years ago, when I was eleven years old, my family was all working in our, what most might call a lumber shop. My father was an earthbender, but his official job was at our shop. We didn't have a very big shop, it is just a little one on the end of our street, but it made our money, and that was good enough for us. But then one day, a gang of benders cam. My mother and father weren't there, and I was the only one there at the shop. (I don't know where my parents were, I only know that they always left once a week for an hour, and now just my mom goes.) The lead waterbender looked like he was about twenty, and they kicked open our door, grinning, and picked me up by my collar.

"Where's your payment?" he said, in a snotty voice. Instead of being scared, I focused on the fact that they were trying to steal our hard earned money, our store. I was not going to let that happen. As soon as a punched his arm off of me, and hit the ground, I used the little earthbending I knew(My dad had little time to teach me), and launched a wall of rock up, sending the guy flying out of our shop.I continued fighting, but eventually the quartet caught me. They were about to just ruin the whole store, but Councilman Bolin had witnessed a lot of the fight, and he jumped in, sending the people flying out into the street. In a series of movements with his hands and feet, the ground beneath the gang's feet turned into quicksand, and then back to normal, so that they were trapped in that one spot, unable to move. Then he turned toward me.

"What's your name?" he had asked. I'd been too shocked to do anything, so I promptly sat down, definitely needing a long nap. Councilman Bolin had stood there for a couple minutes awkwardly, and then my parents had come home, had a huge discussion, and then I became a student of his, and he became Master Bolin to me.

Anyway, back to the real world, where I am currently running out of my house, to my lesson. We always meet at the Pro-Bending Arena, that Master Bolin and his brother own together. I honestly think it's a bit much, because I'm not a pro-bender, so because of my protests, we often leave the City to practice.

I arrived at the bottom of Avatar Mountain, and sprinted over to where Master Bolin was standing, with his back facing me. I stopped, and bowed.

"Master Bolin," I said. He turned around, and bowed to me, then looked around again. He seemed distracted by something. After a couple of minutes of my utter confusion about his utter confusion, Master Bolin turned to me.

"Your lesson today will be the hardest yet, because Lin Beifong and her mother were the only earthbenders besides the Avatars to learn this ability. Even I can't do this, and Chief Beifong passed away last year. So this will be extremely hard, if you have the ability, " Bolin explained.

"Well... What is this ability?" I asked, more confused than ever. I'd never known about anything like this.

"It is the ability to see using earthbending. That's how Toph Beifong saw, because she was blind. The trait was passed down to her daughter, but Lin Beifong never had children. So, I witnessed this ability used multiple times, and I will explain this to you. Now, make a pose similar to this," Bolin put one foot to the side, and bent his knees, and put his hands into a fighting stance, " And close your eyes."

I mirrored him, and closed my eyes, taking a deep breath. Suddenly, I couldn't hear him talking anymore. I focused on the sounds, the wind, the birds, and the river. Using my instincts, I lifted up my outstretched foot, and stomped onto the earth. I suddenly had a visual of everything around me. There was an underground stream of hot magma below us, a platypus bear five miles away, and there was a strange object in the center of the woods. I felt curiosity taking over, and I ran all the way to this object, Bolin chasing after me.

Neither of us were prepared for what we would find.


	4. Chapter Four: The Rift

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Avatar series, but I do own my OC's.**

Read and review, please!

Chapter Four:

  
I kept running and running. Finally, with my eyes still closed, I stopped. Now I was confused. Earlier I had felt the object, and a human, who could have been a bender there. He or she was too far away to tell anything more, but now the person had vanished. I didn't know how this was possible.

Once I reached the object I had felt, I opened my eyes. Master Bolin arrived breathless, after me.

"I need... To catch... My breath," Master Bolin said, between gasps of air. He sat down on a rock, and I grinned, laughing as I looked at his bright red face. He was getting old.

But my laughing soon stopped, as I turned to look at the object I had felt.

It was a blue circle, that seemed like it was swirling into something, but there was nothing behind it. It was hovering above the ground, and small wisps of blue floated in the air around us.I suddenly noticed that it was very dark, dark enough to be the middle of the night, but I could see fine. I looked around, and then noticed the light I was seeing.

It was a full moon tonight, but the moon seemed larger, and almost blue. Everything in this forest radiated some kind of the same blue energy that came from the rift. Awestruck, I turned my attention back to the strange sight in front of me.

I inched closer, curiosity winning out on fear. I cautiously stuck my hand out slowly, every second, reaching out another inch.

When Master Bolin looked up to see what I was doing, he shouted, "Toru! Get away from there!" He tried to reach out and pull me back, but may hand had already touched the swirling circle.

I felt on swift tug, as I was pulled against my will, into the hole.

...

On the other side, I looked around, shocked and confused, not knowing where I was. My head turned this way and that, quickly, and franticly, looking for something familiar.

Soon after I had crossed through, Master Bolin came after. I heard his loud gasp as he examined everything that I had just seen. We were on an ocean, surrounded by a small lake. On one side of the lake, there was a woman standing there. She had on a green uniform, makeup, and was holding a fan.

"My name is Avatar Kyoshi," the woman said, "There has been a rift between the two worlds, near republic city. It is because of the death and destruction that you and Avatar Korra's daughter have caused."

For some reason, Avatar Kyoshi seemed to be only adressing me, and not paying any attention to Master Bolin. I looked at him, and he whispered in my ear, "Toru, we are in the spirit world. trust Avatar Kyoshi, and do whatever she says. I must leave. This is not where I belong. I have many enemies here." and with that, Master Bolin, the only familiar thing I knew, jumped back through the rift, leaving me alone.

"Avatar Kyoshi, I apologize for the destruction we caused to the natural world. Please understand that it was an accident, not to happen again," I replied nervously.

"I hope you have learned from this, Toru. Now, come," she said, "There is something that you and your friend here must do."

This last statement confused me. I had no friends here. Master Bolin had just abandoned me here! stepping on rocks, I crossed from the island, to the edge of the lake that the Avatar was standing on. She nodded, and moved without a word. I followed.

"Your friend, the other daughter of Korra, Aya was called here by Avatar Aang, in a dream. She is the person that you felt when you found the rift. She is with Aang now, and he is leading her to the place that we are headed. Because, Toru, all of the spirit world is about to be destroyed. And you and Aya, earthbender and airbender, are the only ones who can save us."

I nearly fainted for two reasons. They're pretty obvious reasons, so just continue reading.

"But, Avatar Kyoshi, Aya isn't an airbender. She can't bend," I said, "And why can only we save you? I mean, Aya is Korra's daughter, but I'm just a normal person!"

Kyoshi turned around swiftly, and looked me right in the eye. "You, Toru, are the most different, special, and powerful bender that your world has ever seen," Kyoshi turned and continued walking, "And Aya is an airbender. She just hasn't realized her full potential, just as you haven't. Now hurry, we don't have much time. We are nearly at our destination, and I must explain what you must do."


	5. Chapter Five: Spirits In Danger

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avatar TV show.**

Please Read and Review!

Chapter Five:

I continued to walk behind Avatar Kyoshi, still absorbing the fact that I was somehow the most powerful bender that has ever existed. And I thought of myself as one step higher than a street rat.

At this point, I really had no idea what to make of this new found feeling of power, so I just walked with the former Avatar and listened.

"Two months ago, Koh declared war against all of the Avatars. He abducted many free spirits, and turned them, so that they would obey him and wreak havoc on the Spirit World. As anyone well knows, it takes a great deal of power to control a spirit, even as old as Koh," the Avatar said, looking ahead with a determined look.

"So," I said, trying to process, "How did he get this power?"

"By possessing turning the sun spirit. The sun spirit has always wanted conquest. He, the sun spirit, has hated the Avatars ever since Avatar Aang ended the conquest of his chosen nation, the Fire Nation."

"The Hundred-Year War!" I exclaimed.

"Yes," Kyoshi said, "Now the sun spirit has been tricked by Koh, into thinking that the Fire Nation has once more achieved conquest, and that the Avatars in the Spirit World are trying to stop them. This made the spirit very angry, and he bestowed half of his power onto Koh, in his foolish wrath. Now, Koh wants to destroy every Avatar, every good spirit, into becoming dark and evil. Then he will destroy us, one by one."

"So how can an earthbender help? I mean, I've already tried to bend here, and I can't even do that. And I don't think I have any spiritual connections," I looked at the Avatar, showing her an expression to tell her that I wasn't convinced this was all possible.

She stopped. "Toru, you have to believe me, that you will know what to do when the time comes. And trust me, you do have spiritual connections," she said, not understanding my sarcasm.

I was shocked by her seriousness, so I just followed.

There were many strange things in the Spirit World. The lighting was off, like there wasn't any day or night. It was kind of like, permanent evening. And the creatures there were strange, too. I noticed a giant panda once, it had been rolling on the ground, in pain, changing back and forth from it's Panda state, to a strange huge monstrous form, that was black and white, still, but with four arms, and strange eyes.

The Avatar had told me, "This is a perfect example of what Koh is doing. Every spirit has an evil form, and he is forcing them to become that form. Hei Bai was the first to be affected, and he has been fighting for weeks. He can't hold out much longer, especially with the weaker spirits beckoning him to join Koh." She continued on sadly, without mentioning that none of the avatars were powerful enough to help Hei Bai.

So we walked for a very long time, and I couldn't help but hope that time didn't go differently in this world, because if it did, I would not be returning to anything familiar.

Suddenly, I heard a loud crash.

Kyoshi turned to me, and said, "Time is running out. We must move quickly."

**Sorry it's short!**


	6. Chapter Six: Home

Disclaimer: Check chapter one and every chapter after it.

Chapter Six:

*in the mortal world*

"But, Bolin, how can I not worry? He is gone, through this rift," Toru's mother guestured towards the portal in front of her, "and Aya, the Avatar's daughter is missing! I just want to make sure he's safe." Toru's mother bowed her head to cover the tears forming in her eyes, and put a hand on her round stomach.

Bolin put a comforting hand on the woman's shoulder. "Toru has every single Avatar that has ever existed there to help him.I can guarantee you that he will return okay." Toru's mother nodded sadly, then turned to Bolin, giving him a hug, and sobbed into his arms. Bolin was caught off-guard, but recovered from his shock, and hugged back.

"There, there. Toru's safe." Bolin patted the weeping woman's back.

I hope, he thought.

...

"Avatar Korra, I respect you and your opinion, but you must understand! Your daughter cannot control herself! She must be given discipline!" Councilman Kane was raising his voice at the Avatar. And Korra was having none of it.

"You listen to me, Kane!" Korra stomped the ground and, through her anger, began to radiate a soft layer of red fire from her body. "I am not losing both of my daughters in two days! Akila is my daughter, and she will stay with me!" Korra walked up to Kane. "Got it?"

"No, I don't believe I do, 'have it,'" Kane replied, now adding his body temperature to the mix, and set his tea down, as it began to boil. The tea was not the only thing boiling. Three other council members were lying back in their seats, nearly passing out from the angry heat that the two were radiating. Five metalbenders were already down for the count.

Suddenly, the doors to the large room swung open, wisps of air bounding around the walls. Former Councilman Tenzin walks into the room.

"Stop, Korra!" Tenzin yells, as he walks to where the council sits. "Control your temper."

"We are talking about my daughter! I will not let them take her away from me!" Korra said, but backed off, standing behind Tenzin.  
"Korra, Akila is not going anywhere." Now it was Tenzin's turn to speak.

"Council of Republic City, please hear me." Tenzin said properly and calmly.

The fifth council member stood, holding a hand out to silence Kane. "You may, Tenzin. As the son of Avatar Aang, and a former councilman, we value any opinion you have."

"Thank you, Head Councilman Isra." Tenzin bowed, and the councilwoman bowed back.

Tenzin moved forward, with an ease and command of the situation that only a monk of an air temple can have.

"Councilman Kane, I have trouble understanding the reason that you wish to deport Akila. As a firebender, do you not also understand the trials and hardships that Akila is going to, to control herself?"

"Tenzin, I you-" Tenzin interrupted. He was not finished.

"Do you realize how powerful of a bender Akila is? Akila is clearly stronger as a firebending student than many firebending masters are. Akila may even grow to become stronger than even her mother." Korra had a mixed expression of pride and shock on her face. It seemed that she, too had never realized Akila's skills. "If you send her away from her friends and family, Akila will live in the Water Tribe out of place as a firebender, and seething, growing and maturing, yet never forgetting that you five took away her life. And Akila will come back to defeat all of you with force. Such a force, that nothing will stop her from getting revenge"

Two council members looked scared. Tenzin continued.

"Besides, Korra will attack the you five herself before that happens," he added. Korra narrowed her eyes, and sent a wisp of fire from her finger. Now there seemed to be three afraid, and councilwoman Isra seemed to be shifting her opinion, and had a thoughtful look in her eyes.

"Very well, Tenzin. We thank you and the Avatar for representing your case. Please leave us, as we must now vote in private." Councilwoman Isra said, and they both bowed, then Korra and Tenzin left. Outside, Korra spoke to Tenzin.

"Tenzin, what's going on? Akila could be taken away, and we still don't know where Aya is!" She sat on the sidewalk. "Oh, my baby girls!" Korra was doing all she could not to cry.

Tenzin sat down next to her. "All we can do is wait, Korra. She could have also gone through to the Spirit World, like Toru did."

Korra looked at him like he was crazy. "He's in the Spirit World? Wha- Why is Toru there? Why didn't you tell me? Akila was so worri- This does explain it, Tenzin."

"Explain what?"

"Aang hasn't contacted me in months now, and I now know why. There is something happening in the Spirit World, and it now involves Toru and Aya."


	7. Chapter Seven: The Power of the Avatars

**Note: A spiderpede is my cross between a spider and a centipede.**

Chapter Seven:  
  
Kyoshi spoke quickly as she and I ran from the strange creatures following us. They looked like three spiderpedes, but they were at least three feet thick, black, and their long heads held high above us, like a snake would do, to reach something. I ran for dear life, terrified.

"These are some of the spirits that have been turned by Koh. Now, all they do is follow his commands. You, my descendant, and Aya, Avatar Korra's descendant are not the only ones from your world that will help stop Koh. There are two others with spiritual abilities that will help you. They are Jinora, descendant of Avatar Aang, and Iroh, descendant of Avatar Roku. As children of the last four Avatars, you have the spiritual capabilities to unleash power beyond imagination, that can put an end to Koh, before he destroys the Avatars!" Kyoshi shouted as we ran.

"I'm your descendant?" I asked, shocked.

"Yes! I am your spiritual connection!" she yelled back.

"Okay, but I still don't know what to do or where to go!" I shouted back, as the spiderpedes behind us roared, "And these monsters will outrun me!"

I noticed that the strange setting I had witnessed before, of the permanent evening. The sky seemed to be getting darker, and the shadows were lengthening, giving the whole place a creepy look. As if evil was taking over. Oh wait. Evil was taking over.

"You must keep running in the direction of the mountain, and when you reach the bottom, concentrate with all your might. You will know what to do. And do not show any emotion! Koh will take your face! You are the last to arrive, and they cannot do this without you. You must hurry! Good luck, I know you can do this, Toru." and with that, my Great-Great-Great Grandmother Kyoshi stopped, and fought the giant spiderpedes, as I ran faster and faster, to save all spirits from the wrath of someone who could steal a person's face.

Weirdest sentence I've ever said, how about you?

I continued to run, and continued looking around, in terror. Not paying attention, I tripped over a tree root. Or what I thought was a tree root. As I looked up, the tree was alive. It had a face made out of the cracks in the bark, and all of the leaves had fallen off of the branches. The branches began to grow longer, and they began to grab my arms and my legs, picking me up off the ground. I struggled, but it was no use. There was no way I could get out by myself. I stopped struggling, and hung my head low in defeat.

But the spirits would not be taken over that easily. Suddenly, a woman in a large straw hat, and yellowish-white long robes, and shrouded in mist ran up to the tree. Shocked, I watched as she commanded the mist all around the tree, blinding it. when the mist cleared, I was back on the ground, and I looked over at the spirit, who was standing over me.

"I am the Painted Lady," she said, and she helped me up, "Now you must continue," she said urgently, and she continued fighting the tree spirit, this time with punches and kicks.

I continued to run urgently, and faster than ever before, no longer even paying attention to my surroundings. I only focused on the mountain ahead, as it grew closer and closer. But I wasn't getting there fast enough.

I was out of energy, and as my adrenaline kept me running, I knew that when I stopped, I would not be able to even stand. But then a voice spoke to me. It wasn't the voice of Avatar Korra, or of my mother, or even of Master Bolin.

It was my father's voice. As I continued running, I saw his face along with the voice.

"You can do this, Toru. I know you can," and my father just smiled. That one smile. The smile that could always make me laugh. The smile that I hadn't been able to remember in the past eight months since he died. And right there, I knew I could do anything. Just seeing his face.

I propelled myself forward, through the hologram I saw of my father, and soon, I reached the bottom of the mountain. Through my adrenaline, I couldn't think.

"What do I do! What do I do?" I ran my hands through my hair, trying to think. But then I looked around. And I saw a sight that I would never forget.

Every good spirit left was fighting their hearts out against the evil spirits. They were the most courageous, strongest, bravest beings in the universe, and they had no chance. The evil was winning, and as I saw the Painted Lady get knocked to the ground, I knew exactly what to do.

I faced the mountain. I put my left hand in front of my chest, and took my right hand, and covered my left hand with it. Then, I concentrated as hard as I could. I thought about my place here. I thought about my place as an earthbender. I thought about stopping Koh. Suddenly, it came over me. There was a white light that encircled my body, like when Korra uses the Avatar State. I slowly rose into the air, and I saw three others above the mountain, too. In unison, all four of us pulled apart our hands, and faced one to the person to our left, and one to the person on our right.

The white energy of all the Avatars we were descended from flowed through us, connecting around each other. I saw Avatar Roku appear, almost transparent, floating behind who I guessed was Iroh. It wasn't really Avatar Roku; it was the trace of him that Iroh had inside of himself. Avatar Aang appeared behind Jinora, who I'd met once before, and somehow, Avatar Korra appeared behind Aya.

And then I sensed it. As if I had unlimited power. And I knew that Kyoshi's essence was behind me. Then, the four of us, and our Avatar ancestors spoke as one.

"Koh, Face Stealer. Show yourself."

And Koh came out of the mountain, and he seemed a lot like the spiderpedes I had seen before. He was surrounded in the yellow energy of the sun, and he floated in the middle of us. Our faces became expressionless.

Koh laughed, and he seemed to be moving his legs as he moved, looking at us one at a time. "Ah, so it seems you are here to stop me? Me? I harness the power of the sun, Avatars! You cannot defeat me!" he shouted evilly.

"Koh, you will now be stripped of all of your powers. You have endangered all of the spirit world, and now this must be ended," I said with the others.

But then, Koh tried to send the fire of the sun at Iroh. But it was no use. The fire moved up, above our heads, also gaining the full sun power that Koh possessed. And the bright light of the sun exploded. It went off to the east, where I assumed the sun spirit was.

Koh lost his power to float. He began to fall, and right before he hit the top of the mountain below us, the white energy that the four of us had grabbed him, and pulled him up. the energy enclosed him, and he writhed in pain, and I saw faces, all the faces that Koh owned, leaving to return to their first owners. With a loud explosion, Koh vanished from the bright light. And the four of us slowly descended to the bottom of one side of the mountain. And the Avatar's energies left us.


	8. Chapter Eight: A Supposed End

**More Than Meets the Eye**

**Words: 763**

**Chapter Eight:**

The four of us descended down from the air, and landed on the top of the mountain. The parts of our Avatar ancestors that we possessed went dormant, and the four of us collapsed as we hit the ground. We were exhausted, and as the other spirits began to return to normal, they walked up to the mountaintop to join us in celebration.

I helped Aya up, who had been lying next to a large stone, recovering, and we turned to face the Avatars. As I looked at Iroh and Jinora, I saw that the battle had left them much more fatigued than Aya nor I. They were both still on the ground, gasping for breath and smiling like mad.

I looked down at Aya. I looked straight into her gray-blue eyes and my breath nearly stopped. I had never looked at her much before, and we talked a lot, but I had never realised how amazing she looked, her dark-brown, almost black hair wind-blown, and her clothes covered in dirt, she looked beautiful. It may be odd to say, but she looked more beautiful like this than she knew. We stared at each other for an unusual amount of time.

Suddenly, we both snapped out of it at the same time, realising we had been holding hands since I had helped her stand earlier. We jumped away from each other and stood apart awkwardly. Her soft hand left mine and both of our faces turned bright red. We looked awkwardly away from each other, and I could hear Jinora and Iroh laughing behind us..

"Through the trial of the past two months, we have defeated Koh. We are all free of him, and saved, thanks to these four people, the descendants!"

The many calm spirits happily walked, trotted, or flew towards us, smiling and nodding in their thanks. The Painted Lady whispered something to Aya, and Hei Bai nudged my arm and allowed me to scratch behind his ears. The panda-like spirit trotted back into the strange forests of the Spirit World.

Once all of the spirits had said their thanks, I walked to my great-something grandmother, Avatar Kyoshi.

"You have done your job well, Toru. I am very proud to call you a son of my sons," she said, smiling.

"Thank you, Avatar Kyoshi, but I have one question I would like to ask," I asked. She nodded, and I continued. "When I was running to the mountain, just when I believed I couldn't go any fast, and was about to give up, I saw my father's face. He spoke to me, and encouraged me so I would keep running. How is this possible? My father isn't a spirit, yet he was here."

"I can't answer that question for you, Toru. He may not have been there at all. But you will know what really happened one day. You have a destiny waiting for you back home. Goodbye, Toru. Stay a hero, and never let yourself be tempted to leave the path of goodness," She advised, bowing.

"It's been an honor," I replied, and bowed back.

I turned from her as she walked away, and went to join Jinora, Iroh, and Aya at the rift.

"Thank you for saving us. You now must return to your homes. The rift will take you each to a different place. The place that you wish to go most right now. Goodbye, and thank you." The Air Avatar smiled kindly.

I looked over to Iroh, Jinora, and Aya. We all smiled at each other warmly, realising we had together formed a very strong bond, and even though we knew nothing about one another, we felt like we had known each other all our lives.

"It was nice to meet you, Aya and Toru," Jinora spoke in a soft, peaceful way that communicated hidden power, waiting to be provoked, "and great to see you again, General Iroh."

"I won't be forgetting this adventure anytime soon," Aya said. It seemed as if she was still shocked that she had actually met the past lives of her mother.

"Well, I can say honestly that I am glad this happened because I just demolished a huge forest recently, and I think the spirits forgive me now," I said, relieved. The others laughed.

"And I do hope we meet again," Iroh said in farewell. We bowed to one another and we all jumped together through the void, and landed back in our world. Each one of us to a different place. The place we most wanted to be.


	9. Chapter Nine: An Innocent's End

Chapter Nine: Epilogue

~~ Two weeks later ~~

I walked over to the booth with Aya. We sat across from each other.

No, we are not 'in a relationship.'

In the past two weeks since we had come back home, Aya and I had naturally talked more often, having no one else in town to talk to, Iroh being in the Fire Nation, and Jinora too busy in her campaign to become a member of the Council of Republic City.

Aya had revealed her airbending secret to no one but Tenzin who was overjoyed to learn of her abilities, and nearly blurted it out to the whole city. The only reason Aya is keeping it a secret was that she still had never bent air.

The Council finally made a decision not to press charges on Akila and I, thankfully, and my mom is expecting my baby brother or sister any day now. He or she was due last week, but my mother is still unhappily waiting.

I looked over at Aya, who had on a beautiful blue dress, with a white necklace. She looked as amazing as ever.

We began to talk about our day, about my mother's pregnancy, and normal people stuff, and I could tell neither of us were really interested. After the Spirit World, settling back into normal lives had not been easy; it still wasn't.

Suddenly practicing my earthbending and working in our store didn't seem fun anymore. Working wasn't exactly fun before, either, but it was interesting, meeting new people and all, but now it isn't. I find myself thinking more and more upon what Avatar Kyoshi had said about me being the most powerful earthbender ever, and so as I practiced bending, I kept getting distracted. My heart wasn't into it. The Earth Avatar had spoken of a huge destiny for Jinora, Aya, Iroh and I, but there was no hint of anything for us to do together, much less to call Iroh to the United Republic.

So I focused on Aya. I messed around with Akila more often. I focused on my earthbending. I meditated to clear my mind. Everything had happened so slowly since I had gotten home, and as much as I hated it, I had learned to live with it.

"I really wish we could figure out this Destiny thing, you know? It's just so boring here at home doing nothing. I can't stand it," Aya said out of nowhere.

"I know," I said, "But I guess all we can do is wait," I sighed.

"Oh, the terrible life as heroes," Aya jokingly smiled and we both laughed, realising that most people dreamed of being even generally unique.

When we stopped laughing, our Water Tribe noodles had been set out in front of us, and I was about to begin eating happily, when Master Bolin charged through the door of the restaurant, and everyone's eyes followed him as he ran to me.

He was very sad, and obviously had been crying, and maybe still was. His hair was in a frizzle; he had run very fast and as he caught his breath, he looked at me.

I knew what he was going to say before he said it, but I waited anyway for Bolin to say it, as much as I wanted it not to be true.

As tears began to form in my eyes, Master Bolin looked straight at me, and spoke.

"Bolin. I am so sorry. She-she's-" he gulped, and the first tear came from my left eye. "Giving birth was very hard on her. She didn't make it."

My mouth hung wide open. The shock and sadness of everything hit me hard. I put my head in my hands, and the tears came out. I began to sob uncontrollably. Aya came over to comfort me, but since she was in tears as well, it didn't help much.

Other customers watched in silence. They had heard everything. They watched Bolin help me out of the restaurant with sympathetic faces. I wailed at the top of my lungs in grief, and when Bolin slapped money down for the dinner, the waitress refused it, and handed it right back.

I felt the ice cold autumn air hit me as I sat down on the bench outside just by the road, I buried my face in my hands, tears overflowing onto the stone paved Republic City streets.

I felt Master Bolin take me in for a hug, and as I cried into his shoulder, he whispered to me.

****"You're going to be okay, Toru. You and your baby brother will get through this. I won't let you be left on the streets, like Mako and I were. You _will_ get through this."

"You won't be abandoned."

And, right then, that was all I needed. Someone to be with me through everything; someone to keep me safe.

Scene changes to follow the flow of tears as they slide off the curbe, onto the streets into the sewers, to show Koh weakened but smiling as he listens to the sobs of the now orphaned teenager


End file.
